Insight into Human nature?

People in general do not like things to be handed to them. For example advice, junk mail, information in general are things people do not like to receive, but instead if they find it on their own, that same information seems useful. The perception is totally changed depending on how that information is obtained.

Take job searching as an example. If any of you has gone thru this painful ordeal you will know what I am talking about. You send your resume to numerous places, post it online, and even drop it off in person. In the end, what really works is having someone feel like they “found” you. Most of the time when I have actually gotten a job, it has been because of someone actually finding my resume on my personal website. It happened for my last 2 jobs. That shows that a supervisor or a director of a department seeking a candidate feels a lot better about finding the right person using google, than by looking at the stack of resumes dropped off by HR.

Another example is what we consider junk snail mail, the old fashion kind. Plenty of people are annoyed by it, I am somewhat neutral in some cases… but those same people will walk into a store and pick up the flyer. That same piece of paper is discarded if it came unsolicited.

When you find information using your own means, it makes you feel empowered in some way. Maybe it is the new involvement that I have in marketing in my company, or maybe is just my crazy mind, but I think I might be onto something.